Housing comittee points the way to greater control over freshmen

We would like to laud Professor Lester C. Thurow for pointing out the
underlying theme behind the Freshman Housing Committee proposal. At the
last faculty meeting [November 15], he clarified this point with the
following statement: "I'm not interested in arguments about whether or not
undergraduates like the current housing system or not . . . Let's hear some
adult arguments."

The FHC proposal certainly goes a long way toward moving these decisions
out of the incapable hands of immature freshmen and into the more
experienced hand of the Institute. After living in carefully selected
Institute housing for a year, undergraduates will undoubtedly be better
equipped to make intelligent, adult decisions about where to live.

Perhaps the next issue the Institute should consider is that of academic
major selection. It is unlikely that students incapable of making adult
decisions about their own living accommodations will mature sufficiently in
one year at MIT to make adult decisions about more important issues such as
that of choosing a major. If, instead, the Institute would randomly assign
each student a major at the end of his or her freshman year, this problem
would be alleviated in the same manner as the housing decision.

Once these changes are implemented, the Institute could continue its
efforts to protect the undergraduates from their own inability to make
adult choices in other areas. For example, the Institute could randomly
preassign every student a boy/girl-friend.

Clearly, the implementation of the Freshman Housing Committee proposal
would usher in a new era at MIT, and things need never be the same again.